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Onboarding people for a new job can be a dry, boring process because it doesn’t engage employees who are being trained or doing the training. 1Huddlechanges this by gamifying job training through quick, interactive mobile games. These science-backed games enable employees to retain information (97% retention rate), as opposed to live training where participants forget 87% of what they learned within a month. Approximately 2.1M games have been played already through the platform and managers can build custom games in less than 10 minutes. Companies like Madison Square Garden, Audible, and Vineyard Vines use 1Huddle to train their workfocres.
AlleyWatch sat down with Founder and CEO Sam Caucci to learn more about the impact 1Huddle has on the job training and the company’s Series A round, which brings 1Huddle’s total funding to just over $7.9M across four rounds.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We completed our Series A fundraising round of $5M with Tribeca Venture Partners (lead) and Humbition. With follow on from Newark Venture Partners and NRD Capital.
Tell us about the product or service 1Huddle offers.
1Huddle is a competitive game platform that uses quick-burst mobile games to get people ready to work. We help brands onboard new hires faster, upskill better, and fire up their team.
Companies elevate their workforce using science-backed, quick burst mobile games proven to increase revenue and 5-star reviews. Brands like Audible (an Amazon Company), Loews Hotels, FASTSIGNS, Madison Square Garden and Hand & Stone trust 1Huddle to power their people.
Put simply, 1Huddle is the fastest way to onboard, upskill and fire up your team.
What inspired you to start 1Huddle?
I spent my first 10 years training, managing and developing sales reps for today’s workforce. And kept finding it was getting harder and harder to prepare people for work.
I wanted to build a tool that was easy to manage, fun to use and at the end of the day left an employee feeling more prepared and not like they just took a test.
Nominations are now open for AlleyWatch’s 2020 NYC Tech Influencers feature. Know someone amazing who belongs on this list? Nominate them today here. Nominations open until 2/4. Looking to drive targeted response from the NYC Tech community at scale, learn more about partnering with AlleyWatch on this initiative here.
How is 1Huddle different?
The future of work is here…but companies are stuck in yesterday.
Most training today is built by academics that have never worked the jobs they build training for. The 1Huddle platform is built by a team and a community of clients that know what is needed to properly and effectively prepare people for work.
Additionally, most LMS (learning management systems) are module/video platforms that people click through…and find a way to cheat through.
Why is gamification an effective tool in developing a workforce and with training? Can you share some outcomes that you have seen from the use of your platform from your data?
The problem with training today is it is not hard enough. We have dumbed down learning to make it easy to deliver. What is hard about watching a video on Lynda? Or completing an online video and then taking a quiz? Nothing. This is why most people that complete a live training will forget over 87% of what they learned within 30 days (HBR research stat, 2017).
Training is not hard. So training is not sticky. So training is forgotten.
Games create a different opportunity. It is through struggle that training is better remembered, and through competition that we motivated employees to want to play more often.
We have a tremendous amount of research that proves using 1Huddle results in employees that learn faster (cut onboarding by 75%), retain information longer (retention 90 days after training: 84% for 1Huddle players .vs. 7% for LMS users), are less likely to turnover (18 months .vs. 11 months) and more likely to drive better performance (20-25% increase in sales performance across top players).
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
$400B is spent on corporate training and education tools.
Our target are companies that struggle with adoption and engagement around learning. Most of our companies have a ton of learning content but struggle to make it fun, engaging and fit an increasingly millennial workforce.
What’s your business model?
SaaS
What was the funding process like?
Fast. We closed our last round in Q1 of 2018 and this time I was focused on being better prepared for questions, requests and the overall process.
It was also crazy managing the round and the end of year chaos that we have with our sales process.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Balancing our growth and my commitment to the fundraising process.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Two factors.
#1. Team. We have put together the right people around our product. Without our team…the product would not exist.
#2. Success. We have worked our a** off to get our game platform in the hands of some pretty big enterprise players in Loews Hotels, Audible (an Amazon Company), Madison Square Garden, RWJBarnabas Hospitals, Novartis and more…
We have worked our a** off to get our game platform in the hands of some pretty big enterprise players in Loews Hotels, Audible (an Amazon Company), Madison Square Garden, RWJBarnabas Hospitals, Novartis and more…
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We are focused on accelerating our product roadmap and growing key roles across the team
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Know the number you need to get the business to…and focus on it. There are so many goals and metrics that, as a founder, you want to achieve. However, in the end, you need to commit to hitting the most important number that will put the company in a position to succeed.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We have begun to really hit our stride and have begun to close our biggest enterprise clients (as far as logos and ARR). We are continuing to grow with large front-line workforces across retail, restaurants, and hospitality. These are major workforces that are being directly impacted by the changing nature of work, automation and AI.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Carbone. Great Italian…enough said.
Nominations are now open for AlleyWatch’s 2020 NYC Tech Influencers feature. Know someone amazing who belongs on this list? Nominate them today here. Nominations open until 2/4. Looking to drive targeted response from the NYC Tech community at scale, learn more about partnering with AlleyWatch on this initiative here.
